Jedi I - Dual Identities
by SuperMudz
Summary: Book 1 of "Jedi". I started writing this as a Christmas story and project - although Star Wars Day just passed, I decided to upload the first of these. So I hope you enjoy. Follow the adventures of Per'l the Jedi as he sets out across the galaxy on an epic adventure that defines what it is to be a Jedi.
1. Chapter 1: Double Identity

JEDI

\- A Star Wars Story -

Or

_Jedi: Dual Identities_

by SuperMudz

.

* * *

CHAPTER ONE

Double Identities

* * *

Alone. He was alone.

Packing his light-saber through the feral jungle of Naftar IV, his eyes scanned the brush for his followers, the dark shapes that had stalked him from the citadel.

The hairs on the back of his neck bristled with Force sensitivity, sensing trouble.

He ducked just as the first energy bolt ripped overhead.

Tiny though they were, his attackers were packing energy weapons, heavy cross-bows they had obviously purloined from some Wookie stock-pile somewhere. They were not easy for anyone but Wookies to use, but these little critters seemed to have a handle on it well enough to cause him trouble.

_Just as well the Wookies didn't join the Empire, those giant furballs are dangerous._

He hummed to himself, darting back and forth in his movements, looking for an easy escape, quickly at hand for any Jedi. And he was leaping over them, sweeping his suddenly lit light-saber back and forth to intercept some few thrown metal weapon, leaving them hissing, slashed, with heat. They scurried away from him.

And then he was gone, running into the brush, he doubted they'd be able to follow him easily over the incline. They were, in fact, quite a good deal shorter than he was. Still, he hoped they were well deterred, he had no wish to slay them.

If only Luke was here – his master and trainer. They had learned much, but there was yet so much to learn – the temple had been a wonder, the Force could be felt everywhere there – the air and the novices, the burgeoning wakening of a new Jedi Order, it had been exciting for all.

He, not least of all, had taken to the teachings with great eagerness. But now he was on the run, both thrilled at the adventure, and longing for past ones instead.

A hissing astcat stalked past, its eyes glowing in fear response at him until it had gone.

Luke had told many tales, and he had wanted one of his own as well.

_Brash, _Luke had said, but he said it in a way without scorn. He was doubtless right.

Several minutes later he had managed to lose his pursuers entirely, and was now coming upon his target.

The huge thermite converters were guarded by many men, armoured, and on hover speeders.

They would not be easy to get past, but Luke was relying on his intelligence. One of the first duties of the Jedi was to know what was going on, and there was only so much one could determine from the holy confines of a temple. Unless you were Luke Skywalker, of course, but his own training had just begun, and his master had great duties beyond simply scanning the universe with the Force like an ordinary com-bank. The marvels Skywalker was witness to must be something incredible, however, he wondered – it went far beyond the bounds of ordinary technology.

He himself felt the tremor. It had lured him out here.

Past stars and sorrow.

Jedi were cautioned against love of adventure, but it seemed that somehow, regardless, they had a nose for it. It wasn't considered wrong to do so, but the love of the thrill that blinded one to the consequences was a richness that all Jedi were not to indulge in. It made them little better than the bounty-hunter and scum.

He had a partner, a soldier called Kell, but he had been waylaid in prison, and he had not yet determined a way to free him.

He moved closer, using the cover of brush and keep out of their direct line of sight, his sight and sense attuned to his surroundings, sensing that their attention was at an all-time low. Jedi were able to disguise themselves against most things, and a remote post like this wouldn't be equipped with very sophisticated surveillance.

He had seen a lot of the galaxy at this point, and this wasn't unusual to him. He'd been in situations like this before.

He made it to the south entrance, one of the guards had rounded the corner and lost sight of him. The surveillance monitors were easy to avoid. But he thought he had a good position to hold them off if they were alerted to his presence, but he didn't want to be discovered before gaining what he wanted.

On the inside, he gained access to a security panel with his ak-key. It kept him alerted to security detection, but so far either they hadn't bothered with more than a detachment of troops on such a primitive world, or they were too sophisticated to detect. Either way, he'd find out soon, but this would be an awkward place to be caught in a cross-fire.

(*)

The officer entered. "We have the prisoner in custody as you requested. Are you sure this is a wise course of action?"

There was no response, and he felt uneasiness creep upon him as the seconds passed.

"What are you doing?" the officer asked. For a moment he didn't turn around, but then he answered.

"Trying to make this... thing... of the Force exist."

"Rumours, shadows, wonders. It's been asked, it's been a... thing... of the Force. Few allow the experiment, even the masters of the Dark Side are careful. But I... I alone am wise. I shall be its first voice, and thus I shall be the one to name it."

There was a glow inside the chamber.

"So many secrets of the Force, it will not reveal to me, and yet I must know. I must delve into that darkness and bring forth its birth. Nothing new occurs lest one delves the well. We would perish of thirst."

Haggard and hunched, his form gave the officer chills, his rags falling above him in a disturbing way that seemed barely humanoid. Barely creature.

"I shall name it after me."

And he whispered the word, and the Force whispered with him. Dark, roiling, a vast cloud.

_Insidious..._

(*)

Per'l paused for a moment, wondering at the odd sensation, but quickly shrugged it off.

He accessed the security grid, and soon he had their command protocols. Quickly he foujnd what he was looking for. Their command centre was 2 klicks to the east of his position.

Kell would be held there. It was risky, but using his remote access he granted himself access to their monitors. After several minutes, tense in the chill humidity, the processors whirring around him, he found what he was looking for.

The familiar figure of his friend popped up on the feed.

He sighed. He had used a workaround so he wouldn't trip their security alerts, but he wasn't going to push his luck. He knew where Kell was now, so at least he could form a plan if he acted on it quickly.

Per'l had taken a moment to put some of the local berries in his food tester. The bar-shaped device beeped green lights to indicate it was edible. He didn't feel the need to test it on his digestion yet, however.

Checking the feed on the ex-Imperials, Per'l could _see _what they were doing, and he packed up quickly. He would never have a better opportunity. If they were keeping anyone on this planet, it would be there.

They already knew rogue agents were about, they just didn't know how many unless Kell blabbed, and Kell was not the type to blab. But Per'l didn't want to wait until they started interrogating him with more drastic measures. If they were following the old imperial protocols they were trained with, he would still have a few minutes at least before they started thinking about that, but these weren't like the old days, you couldn't predict. Still, they might still rely on their training even out here. Things to cling to, when your entire belief system crashed around your ears.

He wanted to find a transport, to make his way inside their prison compound where they were keeping him. The less attention he aroused the better, but something told him that might not be an option.

Moving outside, among the supply crates and eluding watchful eyes, he found a convenient way. One of their trooper transports, doubtless it was primarily to transport munitions but there would be plenty of room for him.

Soon, it was indeed on its way eastward. Not quickly, but reliably.

He wondered, often, at all the things that their mentor Skywalker, hadn't told him. There was always this slight air of irony around him, a mystery that seemed to come out in an odd humour from time to time, as if there was so much to tell, but no-one could ever hear it.

They were all insatiably curious about the Jedi. The first of the new order – the warrior who had struck down Darth Vader and the Emperor, and with the Rebellion _overthrew the Empire. _There were no words sufficient to convey the greatness of such a person, or their own honour, or the greatness of this new destiny. He had returned hope to the universe in a way none had thought possible. And although it didn't seem to please Luke very much, they, each and every one, would die for him.

He did wonder sometimes, what one would do if placed between that and their own family – but many had given up their families in order to join the new order. To fulfil their own destinies, to be a part of a new peace and order for justice in the galaxy. Their families were doubtless very proud though, it promised to be an integral locus in the future. Luke Skywalker was a hero. He had proved there was still a place for the Jedi in the galaxy.

Darth Vader and the Emperor had been a shadow over all free-thinking people. Luke had offered the galaxy something it never had, under their black boot-heels. Freedom.

Empire City, Teleron, not a particularly creative name, but the Empire hadn't been known for its love of the unconventional. It was, however, known for its organisation for such a vast military and political force.

But something so large could not be without its inevitable fall, as Luke demonstrated. But it had seemed the Empire would endure forever before Luke was known – and perhaps it would have been, there had never been anything like it before.

But Luke had demonstrated its _weakness, _and that, perhaps was more powerful than anything. If a farm-boy in an X-Wing could destroy its greatest weapon in its greatest battle, then perhaps they could win their battles too.

Of course, none saw him that way now, but it was a powerful legend. That had been his beginning, and he had become the greatest Jedi Knight the universe had ever seen.

It was one of the last places in the universe that still didn't accept the New Republic, and until then, he doubted the name would change.

He checked his nav-map, it contained all the co-ordinates scouted so far – he hadn't had time for a good survey before he landed, forced to avoid as much attention as possible.

He entered their command centre - he had ditched the transport shortly before it reached its checkpoint and he would likely be discovered. He found another way inside. It required the use of his lightsaber and some agility, but that was something a Jedi had in abundance.

There was a small squad of white-armoured storm-troopers on guard in the clearing, they had been easy to get around. Their visors didn't do much for these kind of environments.

Behind the city, buildings clusters in twos and threes among parts of the jungle not cleared for development, was the command sphere.

The orbital command sphere was easily a mile wide, it reminded him uneasily of the Death Star.

These might have been defunct control ports for the original, or the original design, perhaps just for the construction, a planet in proximity made a lot of construction more efficient, although the gravity could cause problems.

It would take a bit of work to get inside without running into any patrols, but he was well used to it, and had every confidence in his ability.

_If you can't get your way through the big things, wiggle through the little things. _He didn't think that was a Jedi saying, but it might be if it worked. Be just like them to take a good saying.

_Us, I guess._

Later, he had made it through the security walls. A few close calls, but he had succeeded. They were certainly on the look for spies, but he didn't think they had expected a Jedi.

Slipping down from the vent, it wasn't difficult for him to gain access to the systems again.

"Ah there you are, old friend," he said, looking at the security monitor. He was clearly held in holding cell B. It wouldn't be difficult to reach, but the best way would be through the vents and droid access tunnels as usual. A station like this always required large ducts, and as long as they weren't security gridded, they'd be much easier than the corridors.

Soldiers had a long-time habit of ignoring such things, because very few could use them without discovery.

It weighed heavily on Luke sometimes, Per'l knew – not that Luke had asked his opinion. But they all knew it. He had been single-handedly responsible for the death of millions of lives, in order to save the galaxy. Alderaan would have simply been the first to be claimed by the Death Star, and the rest of the galaxy crushed in the iron grip of fear.

It may be that not everyone on that station were truly evil, perhaps even victims in their own way, but they had died for their cause just the same. It wasn't entirely an ignoble end. One could not pick the straw from a pile of manure and expect it to be clean.

Sometimes there seemed a dark burden on the Jedi, the brightest of them all. Everywhere he went he was like a star, but always one felt like one of his friends. He was an inspiration in the true sense, he made people feel like they could be and do more, and he resonated with those who believed. No burden was too heavy when one shared it with a companion.

He had found holding cell B.

Carefully, he searched along the wall – and he felt something, a slightly almost imperceptible difference beneath his hand. He stood back and waved his hand at the wall, and heard something click.

The door slid open.

"You took your time," was the first thing Kell said, when Per'l had entered and freed him.

"Yeah, took me a while to find out where they were holding you. Come on, buddy, we got to move. We happen to be in the exact right spot."

They made it to a radio station. "Do you know how to use this?"

"The problem with you my friend, is you never took the time to learn more practical things."

"Yeah, yeah, just hurry up, will you?"

"Hold up, it's not as simple as that, it'll take me some time."

He pulled out a tool, and soon he had the chassis of the communication computer open. "I'll have to rig it for a secure communication, too easy to pick up a signal from the wrong people out here."

_Wrong people? Hmm. Maybe I can find a few of those around here._

Intending to interrogate someone, he snuck along the corridors, leaving Kell with a blaster. He avoided enemy sight, slipping behind at their backs and ducking the monitor cameras. It was said there was a Jedi trick to fool electronics, but he didn't know it, he had to rely on plain ol' subterfuge, which had served him well even before joining the Order.

He had been one of the late arrivals. Luke, it seemed, didn't adher to all the old rules he spoke of, or he had changed a few to meet these perilous times – in a time when the Old Republic had long since passed, and the Jedi with them. That is, until Luke, of course.

He dropped down to his knee behind a crate, breathing through his nose suddenly with long, heavy draws, trying to remember his Jedi training. He had just seen a Mantilore!

The huge heavy brutes were a strange species, their facial tusks some sort of highly sensitive sense organ, and they were rumoured to have mental powers of the sort that had otherwise been only Jedi legend. They were minor legends in themselves in this, the H'nbaran sector for much the same reason.

Fortunately it didn't seem to have seen him, he had kept his Force power suppressed, although he didn't know if they had true Force sensitivity, but he would be a fool not to assume the worst.

And the worst was... it had seen him...

He returned to rejoin with Kell, to make their escape.

When they rounded a corridor, Kell halted him.

"Wait a second, as soon as we trip off one of their access alarms, their stormtroopers will come swarming back here. Their personnel is at an all time low, but not _that _much."

Per'l winked at him. "That's why I made a stop before I came here." He clicked a button on his belt com-pad. There was nothing for a moment, and then a sudden shocking sound of explosion! Something huge had just gone up miles away, and hit their position with the shockwave.

_Kell can more than hold his own, but we'll need the distraction for both of us. There's quite a distance between here and our way off this planet. I just hope the shuttle's ready. It's only a matter of time before the stormtroopers start checking every unclassified transport._

"That should draw them off. They'll think their power generator's being sabotaged for an assault. They'll rush troops out there to defend it, giving us a wide space."

"Did you?"

"Just a few of the tertiary and secondary ones. We still need the main ones providing power to this building, or the computer main-frame will shut itself down and we'll never be able to access it. I couldn't do everything by remote."

"Good thinking, friend. Alright, lead the way. I wasn't looking forward to getting tortured, I can tell you."

They stumbled across an officer.

He blasted the man's belt before he could use the device to call for help, and with the use of the Force, threw him into the wall so he was rendered unconscious from the shock, in well applied martial discipline. Jedi trained night and day to hone their bodies and their skills, it was often the only thing between them and certain death with only a hair to escape. A hair that a Jedi could find in a criss-cross of deadly lasers.

_If there was no use for physical training, there would be no use for Jedi. _It was drilled into them again and again – and weirdly enough, their trainer often wasn't even Jedi. Some strange hyper-martial alien they had recruited off one of the sympathetic worlds. Occasionally spoke of being both envious and admiring of the Jedi, but seemed to glow as if with a destiny of its own – such was the light that such callings gave them. Luke had been wise to remind them that the Force was a force to bind _all _living things together. It was an easy belief that became easier to forget, the more proficient with the Force you became, and you became trained at sensing other Force users. Easy to lose others in the flotsam.

For the Sith, they had lost them entirely, including their own souls. It was a very real spiritual danger, but fortunately not a very serious one among good folks.

He believed that true masters were able to sense all things. The destiny of things even so small as a microbe, but it was mere legend to him yet. But he liked to believe, because it was a good belief. Someone so attuned to the Force must be the greatest master.

He wished he had met Luke's master, but he himself was little more than a shadow and rumour, and Luke didn't speak of him often – not to anyone it appeared.

Friendly and jovial though he often seemed, with a heart full of light, he was still somehow reserved and alone, master of a sanctorum that few others could pierce.

If only Per'l knew how strange it was, that a man who fled the empty solitude of Tatooine, should seek out yet more empty solitude of a Jedi temple, where comforts were the thoughts you brought with you.

(*)

Something... a shadow... stalked along the corridors. Just a darkness, but with intelligence.

It stopped and inspected the canisters, touching them one after another, the first was hot, the second was cold, and so forth...

(*)

On the satellite above, Per'l's team was at work, hacking into the encrypted com channels that controlled the transmission traffic for the entire system. He could boost the signal straight to them. They both had to work together to make it work.

At the same time, he could make copy of their command records.

They made it to the control tower, where they could see the storm-troopers with their own eyes, as well as several TIE fighters swooping overhead. The officers had been slain too quickly to raise the alarm, but they kept out of sight so as not to present a tempting target to any sharp eyes. It didn't take long to go about their business there either.

At last he had his information. Several of the Remnant outposts were in these sectors, and the New Republic (erstwhile Rebellion) knew they had to be getting supplies to them somehow. These readings contained information on all interstellar traffic in the region, as well as several other things which he personally suspected would be more likely. It wasn't easy to disguise a light-drive signature, but it _was _possible.

Personally, he would have liked to do more digging, but he did have a mission, and time was always a factor.

He would have liked to rendezvous with some of the other Jedi on the matter, but there wasn't one around for light-years, save for him and his rambunctious partner. They were useful to have. Rescued him from a prison death sentence in one of the Imperial compounds and they had been good friends ever since. Seemed to be a habit, though, but Kell was one of the most intelligent and experienced wise guys one could have on their team.

He uploaded it to his cortical recorder.

And true enough, there was a minimum of resistance, two stormtroopers were on guard to one of the rooms, but they went down quickly to blaster fire. Kell had obtained himself a blaster from the security hold – his own one. They checked the feeds to see again, the majority of troops moving out on speeder bikes, leaving behind just a few defensive detachments, who he knew would soon be searching the command centre.

Splitting up their forces under these conditions were the best he could hope for, even after the fall of the Empire, they were still excellently trained in these manoeuvres, if predictable.

It was fortunate that a lightsaber afforded one many exits and entrances from a place.

They were ambushed in one of the corridors. A security droid with an E-22 opened fire, and sent them rolling for cover, barely deflecting each shot.

Even machines had trouble out-predicting the deflection frequency of a positronic shield modulator. Storm-troopers generally overcame this with wide-frequency pulse blasts, dispersing the force equilaterally over an area – much harder to deflect. Unless you were a Jedi with a light-saber of course.

_That's torn it, they'll definitely be on the look-out for intruders. They'll probably notice their missing prisoner too. But this command centre is so large, we might still be able to evade them._

A couple of return swipes of the light-saber and he had crashed out all the light circuitry in the corridor, the droid had no light amplification circuitry, immediately obvious by the way it changed behaviour. But a Jedi had no need of it, he could "feel" the droid moving, in a way that didn't make sense to ordinary matter, man or machine.

He checked his pieces. He drew his macro blaster – at a fire-fight of this range it was more useful than a light-saber, unless he could close the distance quickly. Heavy pistols with quad outputs, the droid was shortly blasted to pieces.

They weren't easy to aim, but they hit like a hammer.

"Nice work!" Kell complimented him. "I thought that droid had us dead to rights! Must be an older model. I've never seen one taken in a fight before."

"Glad I could impress you, it's what I'm here for."

"Well naturally – let's get a move on."

The next room had nothing in it save for some weather computer predictors and lonely little droid. He looked at the droid sceptically. It blinked back.

"Stop flirting with the machinery, we have to keep moving."

And they did.

Unlike humans, droid battalions were built to take losses – each engagement was a pure calculation of cost, in return for fearless soldiers of unflinching loyalty. It was a big galaxy, and there were a thousand things to tear down the morale of a sentient, corporeal being. It took either a strong heart, tough hide, or cold logical processor of a machine to deal with them.

It took a good crew to deal with the dangers of the galaxy, and he planned to assemble one. Jedi were a solitary breed, but he couldn't do it alone.

In the birth of the New Republic, this was the right time.

They weren't a common soldier, since the Trade Federation, but you still found them around.

He hadn't told Kell about the shadow. Hadn't told the other Jedi. He hadn't been sure what it meant. He knew he should of, it was the unity of the brotherhood of light that had joined them - but every time, something seemed to restrain him.

"We're being followed," is all he said. He had never caught more than a glimpse, but he knew it. He didn't think it was the Mantilore, but it certainly hadn't helped. He had been seeing shadows, but he had kept it to himself.

They took cover in one of the storage areas leading and winding through the central processor units.

He paused. He wasn't quite sure what area of the station it was, but this was a cargo area of some kind, and it had several living creatures in cages. This must have been what drew him here, his instinct told him he could make something from this situation.

He drew something like a water sampler, from one of his many belt compartments. He held it up from a moment, and then approached one of the animals. He injected it and was soon extracting genetic material from one of the little mammals, which appeared as blue liquid in the casing.

"What are you doing?" Kell said, watching him, although he was supposed to be watching for stormtroopers approaching down the corridor.

"It's called a quantum choroidal processor." Per'l answered. "It's based on the fact that most living entities have what's called left-leaning amino acids, which produces a subatomic elective charge that is virtually infinitesimally tiny in energy, yet DNA requires it to be fully active."

He held it up, satisfied at its glow.

"With this we can decoy the enemy."

Placed it on a shelf. "It's producing the signature of a living being."

_Should have done this before – but I didn't see the need, even if it had occurred to me. It's mainly useful against the Force sensitive, but the only Force users left in the galaxy are supposed to be the Jedi! Good thing I never trusted it. Of course, almost anyone would detect it, but there's only one thing I'm worried about._

At that moment elsewhere in the station. "Sir! We have something!" The officer pointed eagerly at his monitor.

"We may not be entirely practical people, like you say, but we Jedi are survivalists." Back where Per'l and Kell were, they exchanged this pleased response.

"Why aren't there any Jedi left then?" Kell muttered in response to himself. Per'l just smiled at that, with his korta-like ears. (Which is to say he had excellent hearing, not that he resembled the animal in any way.)

"This way," Per'l said, and motioned.

The mass-net entertainment feed was still broad-casting. It seemed even the stormtroopers wanted to keep up to day on what was happening in the New Republic. He had to say, it didn't look bad.

"Thank you," he said, saluting the entertainment feed arbitrarily. And moved on.

Kell had collected his gear. Per'l noticed he kept his shield deflector hanging loose off his belt like a light-saber – perhaps he just liked the affectation. It was a common enough misdress, comfortable to just hook one of those on your utility belt and keep active. Not much use for civilian formalities in these sectors.

A small detachment of stormtroopers entered the bay, one leading with a hand-held device which was beginning to bleep alarmingly. Then they knocked aside the crates that had been placed suspiciously, and then they found it.

He held it up, a glowing blue cylinder.

The delta stormtrooper glanced down. He barely had time to say "uh oh", before it was triggered.

A remote mine. The explosion took out that entire section of the station.

After making one last stop to copy files, Per'l and Kell escaped the command centre.

(***)

The officer clicked off. "There's no sign of them now. Our patrols failed to catch them. Do you wish to pursue?"

"I shall reserve my own advice. But return to your duties, commander, you have nothing to fear. Your chariots once again shall be seen in your skies. This "New Republic" will not dare strike at you. I have my own devices with which to pursue their... spies..."

The commander shivered somewhere in his spine, involuntarily, and hoped the creature didn't pick up on it. The voice was a hoarse sound. Suddenly vibrant and challenging and then rough and whispering. The commander did not think he was the Emperor. Everyone knew he had perished with the Death Star. But he seemed to have some semblance of that chilling command. Some thermal accident or plasma burn might have taken his throat and left him with that voice, but the commander couldn't speculate. He only knew that the creature had an uncanny knack and power, and they couldn't afford to turn away aid in these times, no matter their form. He was not as easily disturbed as his fellow Imperials, _Remnants, _he reminded himself – but a spectre was an ill presence.

(***)

Somewhere else in that city at that time.

They sat around in the domicile, watching the holo move silently. They didn't have much, but at a time like this, they were thankful for what they had. Comfort and warmth, while the tri-fire place blazed, and the refrigeration unit blinked.

Suddenly there was an explosion, and the wall exploded in, in stone and rubble.


	2. Chapter 2: Escape

CHAPTER TWO

ESCAPE FROM THE COMMAND CENTRE

* * *

Some time later, he was watching something occur from their command center, hiding on a grassy outskirt with his macro-binoculars. The Remnant forces had deployed their troops from the command center. Per'l knew they were on the look-out for spies. He couldn't actually hear them, but if he could he would have been privy as the ex-Imperial complained.

"Endi droids," the Remnant Officer sniffed. "Hardly any better than having the local tribe savages track for us, what a backwards planet."

The little droids scuttled out in the brush with surprising speed on their little legs. They wouldn't have any luck.

"They're hunting us with their wolfnauts." Per'l added later. Weird creatures that scavenged in the underbrush, they make effective hounds, able to track human scent across miles, and several more of the more pungent species. He had checked the charter before reaching this world, and got a brief survey on native wild-life, they had been listed among them, and he had memorised the list.

Luke was strange among what he knew of the Jedi. He wasn't afraid of the Sith, or their teachings, but seemed to find them amusing. He wondered sometimes if the master took everything with a sort of cosmic irony.

But the Dark Side, oh boy, did he not take that with equanimity. The look in his eyes was implacable. There was an odd coldness that entered in them at those times, and every student had seen it.

Per'l did not know why those two things seemed distinct with him.

Of course, Per'l had not known any other Jedi. Perhaps it was simply a trait of knights and masters. There were more of those now than there used to be. For seven years, Luke Skywalker had been training them, and had his first true trained graduates only a year or so at this point.

He was gone often, Per'l suspected to assist the New Republic, he didn't know the connection, but Skywalker had often (occasionally noteably) appeared at the side of Princess Leia, and the other members of the High Council responsible for much in diplomatic correspondence in the New Republic's rise to power.

As he was the only remaining true Jedi in the galaxy, it only made sense. The last of the guardians of peace and justice, who were once the right arm of justice in the Old Republic. It seemed Princess Leia still honoured those things, she spoke often in ways on the telecasts that made Per'l suspect so, with his own uncanny Jedi knack for such things. Perhaps it wasn't correct to say Luke was the only one now, but he was the only one that figured into such things.

Luke himself was a powerful master, as Per'l knew such things, and kept such secrets well. His missions, if they were, were always a mystery.

Jedi themselves were still considered somewhat a strange species in the galaxy. How quickly they had been forgotten, when you thought about it. A history only vaguely believed, if at all. So many strange things had been accounted to them, it was easy to discount the stories entirely, even by Per'l from time to time.

He reached out with his thoughts. "Just animals in the area." He said.

Kell nodded. "Okay, I'll call in the hopper." And activated the recall on his transponder belt, a common utility.

He took a few sprays from his oxy-converter. It would slow down any bad particles in the atmosphere. He felt that his constitution had improved greatly with Jedi training, but it was important to use what you had to keep healthy. No need for a mask, however.

He had breathed in the air on that world, home to the Jedi Temple, and felt like he was at a new home. One that, unfortunately, he would not get to see often.

He had been on an adventure with Luke once, all Jedi were to receive personal training from him in that way – making themselves useful at the same time. They had sabotaged a power generator.

Kell watched from a ridge with his macro-binoculars. "Two more fighters on the way," he called on the short-wave transmitter. It would cancel out over a hundred yards so there was no chance of it being picked up by the fighters. It was a standard piece of equipment in the Rebel Alliance, and the storage areas Master Skywalker kept on the grounds were full of them. They worked just as well for a Jedi as a trooper.

"Okay, we'll keep low until they've passed."

The Empire's stink was still rich on these out-skirt worlds where the Rebel Alliance had chased and harried them, giving them nowhere to turn but their illicit allies.

Per'l found his own hopper nearby. They were fast one-man speeders with atmospheric flight.

"What I wouldn't give for an astro droid – it's been years since I've had to get one of these things going by hand." He pushed away the brush.

"Friend to the animals," he muttered, rummaging through the supply pack attached to the back of his cargo swoop, known as a hopper. He patted it like a horse. He tossed some of his protein-bars into the bush, they would have an incredibly rich smell to their pursuers and throw them off, probably keep them distracted for food long after they had gone.

He assembled the last panels with his Force powers as Kell watched. Kell shivered. "Those powers of you Jedi will never stop creeping me out."

_Just as well he didn't see me use a mind trick, he'd never trust me after that. _He thought, only half as a joke. It was one of Kell's amusing quirks to tease his friend about being Jedi, but it could stop be amusing if he ever took it seriously.

They were being hunted by those TIE fighters.

Kell set up his gun on a controllable remote turret and shot down the fighters as they passed back overhead. It had looked like a half-harness he had just carried on his back, and it hadn't been obvious until now what it was. Along with a portable missile launcher he had carried on the hopper.

The deflector shield on fighters was often weaker from below and the rear, and not always active in atmosphere.

"Ambush!" the pilot of the first fighter cried out, right before his cockpit exploded in fire.

Per'l watched them as they fell out of the sky in fire. They weren't all as easy to take out as that, hand munitions usually made pretty inadequate weapons against their starfighter ablative hull. You usually needed something the size of a proper A-class ground turret at least to stand a good chance in a fire-fight. They were fortunate to have set up a good ambush against their vulnerabilities. The trees kept them well obscured to scanner.

It did give him odd thoughts about the pilots. Blind spots.

Funny to think, you spent your whole life behind the nav-visor of your own body, and you were the person you got to see the least – you couldn't watch yourself unless you spent your life in front of a mirror or a holorecagramme. So you spent every day with a friend you were still getting to know. Thirty years could pass and you still weren't always sure what you even looked like.

The best way you got to know yourself was with a friend, he had always thought, before joining the Order. They had taught him to search himself in ways he had never thought possible.

It was kind of strange. It's not that you _couldn't. _It's just that most people just... didn't bother. He wondered if that was sort of an odd thing. Temelores, of course, could and did watch themselves constantly, but that's because it was a survival mechanism, they were like spiders in their webs, constantly hunting for predators. And even then, they were such complex beings, who knows what they really saw.

_Odd time for philosophy, friend, Jedi or otherwise. _He told himself.

They made for the city.

They were ambushed in the city. Surrounded by storm-troopers. Their hoppers had been blasted almost instantly, but they had survived the tumble. Per'l had been separated from Kell in the process.

"We have you surrounded, _Jedi,"_ the storm-trooper's leader sneered as he took off his helmet.

_Per'l. _Per'l was his name.

He took the officer's own name directly from the sneering man's mind – and spoke it aloud, watching the man's face pale.

He knew the type, his will would be difficult to bluff even with the skills of a Jedi – Imperial officers weren't always bright, but they were often ruthlessly reinforced with loyalty to their evil masters. Although he wondered if that simply wasn't an easier link to exploit, they were so single-minded.

But he wasn't alone.

Kell had grabbed a large meta-blaster from the hold, and was firing away at two hundred energy bolts a minute. The storm-troopers fell in the dust, to lasers and light-saber.

It was absolutely devastating fire nothing short of a heavily armoured tank could stand up to.

If Per'l had spoken the thought aloud, he would have spoken too soon.

It appeared from around the corner, it's smooth half circle coming into view like a waxing crescent moon, its turbos whining in the dust. Then it stopped.

"What the-? They were keeping a Jerset in station? I haven't seen one of those in years!"

Defunct to the Empire, you only saw these on a few colonies now, most of them scrapped for the newer hover auto-cannon replacements and as transport turrets, they were easily broken down and salvaged thanks to their very simple origin of design.

A blast of blistering demolishing fire sudden erupted from its forward arc, and their position was soon covered in dust and rubble a they scrambled and leapt for cover. He defended them from a few deadly shards of rubble turned into ballistic fire.

He didn't know if he had a pilot, sometimes a governor would install a remote driver, but he knew where he needed to strike.

He leapt to a ledge, and dodged through an open room with a small fountain and not much out, and leapt out the other side, dropping into the street past a low wall.

The explosion lifted him off his feet, his light-saber flickering out in reflex.

_It had anticipated him!_

His lightsaber was scattered away from him, he saw it flying from his grasp, deactivated, to a distance unknown in the moment. His deflector shield managed to slow down the shrapnel, but it wasn't designed for physical objects. He felt it as his arms were grazed and torn skin deep, and when he got up, his arms were bleeding. Not good.

_Even my reflex was sloppy. I should have relied on the Force, no lightsaber could deflect a shot like that! Might as well take on a surface cruiser._

His shield battery was flickering now, registering its complaint.

He knew where he had to go. Faster than the eye, he dashed for cover. He saw his light-saber, rather than lose time, he called it to him with the Force. He was strong enough to do so with ease, and it was the arm that wasn't tired.

"Are you okay? What happened?" He heard Kell called.

"I took cover, where are you?"

"Same here, staying out of those guns. I don't see any reinforcements, maybe we should just leave it and rendezvous."

"Sound plan. You know where our rendezvous is, let's try and meet up there, each our own way. I don't trust crossing the street with that thing on the look-out."

They split up.

Sometime later, he was avoiding patrols, and making his way eastward. He had to duck inside one of the houses, which, unfortunately, was occupied. But even more surprising, they had made friendly sounds and ushered him in and provided haven. It seemed that even here, there was no love even for the memory of the Empire.

The company was nice, if only for a moment. He couldn't stay here long. They nodded at him, and spoke something in Basshan, he only caught half-snatches, even a universal translator would have trouble keeping up with their patter.

The warm season harvest must have been particularly good –they had meats, and breads and various food-stuffs hanging up. They had insisted he remain for a meal, which they seem to have stored plenty for the upcoming cold times. A cursory examination revealed they were all edible, and so he did. He hoped Kell wouldn't be cross at the delay, but he was going to make sure he didn't repay their hospitality unkindly (after determining their intention). He had left a few credits for them to find, to be sure, hoping it would not cause any complications. It wasn't always easy to guess with all the different cultures in the galaxy.

He took a moment to turn some of the strange meat into bread with his food converter, and pocketed it as meal bars. The concentration was weak, but it tasted interesting. There were some places in the cosmos where you could eat food that was so rich in vitality and balance, that it actually made a lot of other food taste bad. There were synth bars of course, where you could spray tastes, in all kinds of virtually arranged combinations, but they weren't too good for you, besides not actually being food.

In his opinion, the only real satisfaction came from a true meal, where you got to have a varied and unexpected experience that didn't turn your nerve cells into sludge after your fifth try. It might work fine for Tantian double-headed slugs, but humans required a bit of humanity in their life experience, he thought.

There was a saying he liked which was that you could judge a household by its food storage. A full cupboard meant good things for that family. Not that he would know. He didn't even have one to leave behind.

They had a sixteen year old daughter he waved to before he left (or so he supposed, he wasn't too good with the species), sweet thing, she had made up his plate. No doubt she and her family would have a good future here if the Empire took away its remaining shadowy hand. It was for things like that that he had become a Jedi.

He had almost forgotten how he missed family, himself. He wondered how Luke had dealt with it.

Although it was true he didn't have one, he remembered one, and they were good memories.

He managed to infiltrate the inner compound. It was hard to say if it was a compound or a city, there was certainly a lot of urban villages in the area.

(*)

They made it to the port. Several stormtroopers were patrolling the area, but they didn't seem to be particularly suspicious.

"How are you for weapons?" he said.

"This Kazarra is my own special modification," Kell said from inside the storage cell, his voice tinny and strange. He must have been referencing his hand-blaster. "It'll pop a hole in a flying gendarme transport let alone some infantry armour casing."

_Pity it only has a few shots at a time, this gun's pushing safety boundaries as it is. 'Fraid I'll lose a hand someday. _Kell thought.

The energy carbine was tightly wound, its coil much closer than most, compressing the energy cycles through the relatively fragile wire. Dangerous, but with an effect.

They didn't have a ship in port, they had a couple of hover-sleds with cargo attachments. It was going to be hell getting them to the ship, but he didn't want to lose the supplies. One thing the Jedi temple didn't have was a lot of funds for their misadventurous scouts. Although he had hoped that would change in the future.

There was a shuttle, apparently flying over to the next port, about five klicks, well away from the patrols, to rejoin the larger ships. It was also a great deal closer to their own ship.

_Hm, convenient. The Force has many ways._

And that's why they were waiting in these barrels. They would be unwittedly transported along with their hover-sleds right over the stormtroopers. If all went well. And if it didn't, that's why they packed blasters.

They made it to the next port. There was a brief scuffle with storm-troopers there, but apparently they hadn't ranged out this far with their larger patrols. They loaded the barrels onto their ship. It was a small transport, hardly a Jedi flyer, but they had relied on stealth rather than dog-fighting skills.

They escaped the planet.


	3. Chapter 3: Escape From Naftar IV

CHAPTER THREE

ESCAPE FROM NAFTAR IV

* * *

They got into orbit.

"Uh, Per'l, I think we've got a problem."

There were no rear turrets on these ships, it was a scout-ship, essentially just a transport, rapidly becoming the more popular methods of transport for the Jedi, given their small signature for detection.

They saw it on the detection scanner. A small fighter, in rapid approach.

"Bounty hunter." "Interceptor." Was their first guesses.

"Dodge these, Jedi."

Spaced several metres of either side of the ship were singlet cannon lasers behind a powerful deflector shield. Per'l deployed counter-measures and weaved among the rocks, but it was no good, the combat navigational systems on that fighter must have been insane, he had only his Jedi skills to keep him ahead of a positronic computer.

_Machines are no match to one with the Force. _This, he knew, now he just had to make good on it.

In the enemy fighter, the pilot was gauging the success of his attack.

"Herm. He dodged them. Not bad. But a Jedi without firepower is like a Jedi without a weapon. Easy bait. Be a nice look on my wall." he patted his wall panel – he kept mild hologram inflections stored there like tattoos of all the marks he had killed.

Of course, you just uploaded your kills, tagged and credited, that sort of thing, but he enjoyed being surrounded by his work. He breathed out the methane atmosphere, and inhaled from the mask. The lights on his spotter panel lit up as the Jedi's fighter came into target reticule.

Two more TIE fighters had joined the attacker in pursuit. Even a Jedi had his limits.

Per'l had escaped each attack, just barely – the hunter seemed to be attempting to slow him down, his attacks were constant and steady – he suspected the tactic was to wound his ship bit by bit until he was completely defenceless. Even a Jedi couldn't escape in a vacuum.

_That's actually a saying out here, although I think it's Pyara birds. I'm definitely the target of an experience hunter, who knows how to run his prey to ground._

_But he's up against a Jedi, we are no ordinary prey._

He had to out-think him, out-manoeuvre him. Not easy.

And as he saw something on his spectroscope, an idea occurred to him.

The double gas pocket exploded, and when it cleared, his attacker was gone. But not for long. The two TIE fighters had evaded the trap and were coming around for a different approach. They fired the boosters and tried to get some distance.

"I thought we took care of those fighters on the surface!"

"They must have more!"

"Hang on," Kell said suddenly, "I'm getting a signature here..."

Something approached out of warp. And space around them was instantly filled with firing lasers.

"What is that?!"

"A Jedi assault ship."

"I didn't even know Jedi _had _assault ships!"

_Just in time, Macron. _Per'l thought to himself.

The TIE fighters had turned in formation, but it was too late, they were almost immediately destroyed by the concentrated bombardment.

"Glad we could arrive on time, boys." Came the voice.

"Me too." He transmitted back.

The Jedi ship _Crescent._

Pearlescent and shining in the void, with its quadruple attack banks, and curving silhouette thrusters.

It must be one of the first ever produced off the world of Yavin IV, where the Jedi temple was. He didn't realise they had put together those space port assemblers. Either that or it was constructed off world. It had just been a fanciful image, a dream, before this time.

It was an oddly practical looking beast at the same time, its underside studded with retro thrusters like a freighter.

_The paradoxical thing about knowledge is that you have to be wise enough to use it. _Luke said that after one of their meditation rituals. His odd sayings popped up in his mind at odd times. Off-world as he was, he couldn't blame Luke for it.

A holo image popped up of Macron. "Hello master" she said. Waving her tentacles at him.

"Don't call me master, I'm just your instructor while we're in the field – Luke is our proper Jedi master."

"Isn't it the same thing?"

_Not even close. _"Just call me by name, its okay, nobody out here knows it, and it wouldn't matter."

He had been entrusted with several padawan from time to time, as he was simply older and more advanced in training, although he was not yet a knight himself.

Slowly, their craft was drawn in by tractor beam, and they had docked with the ship.

He breathed a sigh of relief when they were on board. Macron met him at the transfer port.

"We have to get out of here fast – one of the Imperial cruisers is gaining on our position."

"Imperial Cruiser?"

"Several of them warped in just a few minutes ago."

"Alright, get us out of here."

They were reunited with clasps and hugs and good gestures. It was good to be reunited with company, he realised he had been missing it today. Quickly they briefed each other on what had been happening.

Per'l had been out here on a different mission entirely, but had stopped to make time for one of Luke's. Although it was urgent and vital to the New Republic, his thoughts were elsewhere. Someone he had not yet found.

In all the time they had spent together, he had never mentioned what he himself was doing out here. He was just performing some missions for Skywalker and the new Jedi Order, but there was a very personal search he had ventured out here for. He was looking for a woman he knew, Maron.

He paused a second. He saw it again, just out of the corner of his eye, before disappearing through an open door.

_"You have too many weaknesses. Too many secrets."_ And the dark figure disappeared the way he had came. In shadows.

_Me? _He thought. He thought he had been pretty good at both those things, what an odd paradox. He supposed that among the Jedi the standards were much higher, but so was the training. In a sense, it what everything you wanted if you wished for something great – but it tested you by taking the things you loved. At least, it seemed to. He didn't believe that something loved didn't return by some way.

It may not have been Jedi wisdom, but he imagined it would be if it was right.

He shivered. It had been so close this time. And looking around, he knew no-one else had seen it.

Quickly, they relayed their information. Their tactical team had already been recovered from the satellite.

With the Empire gone, the fervour had gone out of the large amount of their storm-trooper armies, and everywhere, on every world, rebellion arose, so that the remains of the Empire found themselves quite outdone by local militia everywhere. There were many surrenders.

But there was new force arising out here, something the Jedi and those in the New Republic, were calling the "Remnant". They were apparently gathering the dissident and scattered forces, and re-uniting them into a surviving faction of the Empire.

It wasn't clear what their goals were, but they were now in the ironic position of hunting down what could almost be called a rebel contingent of this _new _order.

Strange to think. He himself had fought in the Rebellion, albeit not Luke Skywalker's group, but a sympathetic revolt army, and now what was rapidly becoming called the splinter wars.

Even then, he hadn't known of his burgeoning Jedi talents, and it had taken meeting Luke to awaken them in him. Luke had looked at him with those eyes, and he had felt the strangest sensation of recognition.

And Luke had said nothing for a moment, and then with a smile. "You will be one of my new Jedi."

He knew now that the Jedi master was having one of his premonitions. It was a strange thing to be a part of, but he couldn't have asked for a greater calling that he never knew he had. It was then that they discovered their unusual passenger. On the gang-plank, he was astonished as she was revealed out of one of their cargo crate cylinders.

"What is she doing here?"

"What are you asking me for? It's your cargo."

"Well _I _didn't pick her up, for stars' sake!"

It was the Basshan girl, peeking out of one of the barrels with her large eyes. They argued for a moment, and then one of the crew-members suddenly approached them in a rush, his face a strange picture of fear.

"What is it?"

"Kell is gone."

And so was one of the pods. Launched without an alert.


	4. Chapter 4: Asteroid

CHAPTER FOUR

ASTEROID

* * *

The stars passed them on the ship. They took a break in the mess. The galaxy was a beautiful sight out here, with nothing between them and the stars.

The had exchanged some of their forces, the Jedi assault ship returning to Yavin IV, he supposed, unless they had additional mission parameters – they themselves were going to check out of a suspicious location they had uncovered in the system. Macron had joined them as well, of course – she was still, in essence, his pupil, although he occasionally felt woefully unprepared to teach.

They had been forced to take the Basshan girl with them. For now. The planet had been blockaded off with cruisers, and they were on the look-out now. Per'l had no idea how he was going to return her, but he had no doubt it would be made his responsibility.

"We followed the signal out here – it looks like that asteroid is our destination."

"It's the last true Imperial post in the sector, and it looks unguarded. It might have all the information we need."

They landed their transport inside – it used to be a docking station of some kind and the walls had been carved and mined away to accommodate large ships. The ship was relatively slender compared to most. The cave suddenly seemed a lot smaller with it inside though. They could see the lights of a control station ahead – but there were still no life-signs.

"Where's the atmosphere coming from?" Macron asked, observing the life monitors.

"It must be a fragment of some habitable planetoid that was destroyed. Trapped the atmosphere in a pocket."

"It's odd, it's not dispersing. It should have all rushed out of here."

"There must be a vacuum trapping it."

_A vacuum in a vacuum? _

"Are you sure? Well I'm not up on my geophysics."

"Hang on, I'll set up the atmospheric bubble."

After the crew was ready to disembark, there was a pause as Macron talked to Per'l.

"Our bacta reserves are a little low – we should stop at the next system."

"I thought we just did our shopping."

"But no bacta."

"We're on an ex-Imperial station, maybe we should just look around, see if we can pick up anything here at the same time."

She wrinkled her nose. "I don't trust Imperial reserves. Besides, they might have the place booby-trapped."

"We'll be careful."

"Okay. Just don't overdo it. Last thing we want is some less than retired cruisers warping in and blasting this asteroid apart."

Per'l packed on his thermal boots, strapped on his cantina and his blaster, and dropped down into the thin atmosphere.

_Maybe the way these tunnels open into space and on themselves created some kind of vacuum seal. Maybe it's possible._

_Wait a second! _He just realised. There was gravity. And it continued beyond even the ship's generator. The facility itself must be generating it, and therefore it must also be generating whatever field kept the atmosphere compressed. It was a much simpler explanation.

Strange that he hadn't detected anything, these rocks must be hiding the signal. He had hacked the information off their personal command center mainframe, he didn't think it was supposed to be easily found.

"At least that explains the atmosphere. The machinery must still be working." He transmitted in to the ship.

They had made a quick camp, with e-battery lights, and crates for seats, around a fireless set that nonetheless produced warmth and light.

Their Trandoshan companion offered his expertise.

"Atmospherrre pocket. It happens - sometimess. The combination of atmospheresss glues it together like a hyyydrogen bubble and traps it. It insulatesss itssself against the vacuum of space and resists it like a water bubble, multipled mannny-fold." He made odd claw movements to emphasis his explanation.

He was a veteran of space exploration and knew many of these things to tell them. Partly why Per'l had been glad for the Trandoshan's company. His Galactic Standard was excellent, but he still hadn't cured that odd jaw-clicking accent. He was smart too, which was easy to overlook when he sounded unfamiliar with the language. Probably why he worked so hard to master it.

And yet he never spoke in his own. Per'l decided that the Trandoshan must have decided it was some kind of politeness in non-Trandoshan company. Odd, but definitely made you like the fellow.

Per'l thought he was an engineer physicist of some sort before this, but he hadn't inquired too deeply. The Trandoshan was sensitive about his past.

They went exploring, Macron with him. The station extended into what appeared to be some defunct military Imperial barracks, and large medical extension modules. Bunks and oxygen converters collecting dust in the half-gloom, the station lights at emergency stasis power.

He found empty genetic capsules. "Looks almost like some kind of laboratory. This isn't like the other clone tanks I've seen."

Macron touched the surface of a console with her finger. "Dust. Probably means people. But not for a while."

The Empire had reverse-engineered the secret of cloning, and it was rumoured they had many places for which to produce new corps members. One day it might have replaced their recruitment rosters, and the galaxy would truly be under an iron, mechanical and ruthless thumb. It was rumoured that Darth Vader himself was partly mechanical, perhaps some experimental warrior – but Per'l thought that it was more likely the power of the Force.

So many mysteries created in the wake of the Rebellion's fight against the Empire. Its battles were legend, but still the stories were filtering back, trying to paint in a clear picture of what happened on those momentous occasions.

He saw it again. The shadow had followed them. He knew it.

_You are no Jedi, _the figure had said, and laughed. Hiding behind one of the station supply crates this time.

_There was a dark side in all of us, _he was beginning to suspect.

He went further. Beyond the hollowed out rooms, and metal facility construction, and into the tunnels that must have existed eons before. He found what he was looking for, lurking deep inside. There was something living here.

He touched it.

_Yearning. _He heard from the centipede like thing. Struggling for the stars. You could pick up small things like that.

Most Jedi interrogation was a matter of finding the right key words, based on responses and acting on them. He wasn't entirely trained at it, but he did have some skill at it. He had seen Luke do it once and it had been almost unbelievable, a man just spilling his entire life, ills and misfortunes and shames, in front of him for all to see with hardly a nudge. Strangest of all, the man didn't even seem ashamed afterwards, he was just very quiet, as if finally having a rest from so many burdens, although not free in the physical sense. Until he was returned home.

It had been almost frightening. Luke had such powers, they even made other Jedi sceptical.

Luke wished to train them as well as his own master, that he knew, and that would be something to see.

Per'l had simply been curious. He got no sensation that it had encountered others before. But there was something about it that was strange to him. As if this entire place was tainted in a darkness he couldn't see. He had felt it even before they had approached, but ignored it in order to complete their mission.

_What would you prefer? Greater power at risk to your soul? Or to remain as you are, with no risk?_

He sometimes wondered if the spectre that haunted him was master Luke in disguise, but he had been too afraid to ask.

It was his personal battle, and he would win it. At any cost. He would prove himself worthy of the rank of Jedi. He was eager too. He wished to be one who represented the name, and well, with pride. He felt a little uneasy with that deficit of rank around people like Kell, as if he was failing in some small way, as if perhaps he wasn't the best example of the Jedi Order – and he wished to be, it was in his heart to be.

He approached the subject circumspectly, returning to camp, wondering if a Force user could have hidden themselves from him.

"Mm. A shadow master, someone who can obscure himself in the Force. I had heard rumours of such dark creatures, but reckoned them to simply be stories of the sort that occurred. Jedi have a pretty strange reputation already, not always trusted." Was Per'l's offer, and his companions had plenty of opinions to offer.

_It's the actions you choose to take, that define you as a soul. It is a Jedi's job to train it._

Hmm. So what action would he take now?

He took a roam on the surface, tiny directional energy markers in his boot keeping him anchored. Unlike the droid's high-powered magnetic treads, which only worked on metals. Of course the surface actually _was _metal, but that was neither here nor there, it paid to be prepared. Not everyone carried jet-packs and booster rockets or flying hover-sleds.

"The Jedi way demands difficult things from those who would follow its path."

_The Jedi way. Not the Jedi order... _It seemed meaningful to him somehow, like all Jedi wisdom was.

_The first to be seduced by the Sith and their ways were themselves. _But it was difficult to remember while they perpetrated evil upon the innocent. He didn't understand how Skywalker could find their philosophies in any way humourous when they led to such barbarities as they were famous for.

Sith was something he knew something about, he had studied them, even requested files from the galactic codex. The ancient enemy of the Jedi, he wondered about them often. If they could lurk on forgotten worlds as the last of the Jedi did.

If they were truly the twin order of the Jedi...

Luke had grown cold at the suggestion. He didn't explain why, but Per'l got the sense that that wasn't how Luke thought of it at all.

_There were two. _He said. _And then there was one. The last one. And now he's gone. _And he broke off the conversation as if that was the end of the matter. But Per'l didn't think it was the end at all. Sooner or later, those sympathetic to the Sith religion had to become again – as the Jedi Order grew, its dissidents would also gain power, it was a simple fact.

And so he wondered, and thought about how to be prepared. He wondered what Luke's thoughts were, but he never learned.

In a way, it would be a positive sign. Evil must bring itself to light, the Jedi's light. He was almost eager for it. Never again must they dominate the universe as the Emperor had.

Far away at that moment, Luke's thoughts were indeed on that subject. But as far away as he was, Per'l could not be aware of it. Or how abruptly his thoughts would turn to immediate circumstances.

Macron was sitting next to the Basshan when he returned. He still hadn't learned a name.

"How'd she even get on board?"

"It's a dangerous galaxy, we better look after her."

"I didn't even realise there were any Basshan out here." She said.

"You recognise her then?"

"Of course. They're adorable."

Macron picked her up and tickled her fur. At least she knew what she was doing around her.

"And she's more like thirteen. Although for a Basshan that doesn't mean entirely the same thing as with humans."

"Well I don't have an eye for that sort of thing."

The Basshan's own eyes seemed to glitter in reponse.

"We can't go back, there's an imperial cruiser. But her parents will think we stole her."

"Well I guess little miss britches here can just explain that herself. I mean, you _didn't_, did you?"

"She just stowed away, I had no idea, I swear. I don't even know how she kept up – in fact, she must have gotten ahead of us."

He squinted at her suddenly. She _seemed _like the same creature. They were going to have to set up the universal translator in the ship and interrogate her anyway. Not sure how much luck it'd have though. Maybe Macron would make it easier, she seemed to have some familiarity with the species.

She seemed fascinated by the lightsaber, but he wasn't about to hand over his jedi's weapon just to satisfy her curiosity.

They had broken out the food supplies as well.

"What are these?" a recruit asked. A New Republic soldier, Per'l could tell by the fresh uniform he wore with pride. Looked like a good addition to the ranks. Unam was his name.

"Biscuit rations. Be careful with them, we don't have many."

And they sat around the heat-fire, and in the vague camp-like comfort, they swapped a few stories and passed the time with games.

"I think this used to be some extended mining and refuelling complex for their starfighters. A lot of hydrogen cells and ion pumps."

"Asteroid belts like these are rich in trapped gas pockets and fuels."

He decided to get some last minute exploring in, while Macron handled the resupply and got the ship ready. It had been a nice rest from ex-Imperial troubles, in the most ironic location they could find, but they couldn't stay here that long.

"Find anything else?" Unam asked him, having replaced Macron as his companion.

"Not so far." he held up his cortical drive. "Still, I got everything I could here too. And I-"

He cut off abruptly.

There was an explosion. Something had happened near the ship.

(*)

Kell sold him out. They had them cut off at the entrance.

"Not often one gets a Jedi, rare breed these days, but just as expensive." Kell said, when the two were standing there, astonished.

_I never picked up any sign of deceit in his mind, no notion of betrayal. What is he, some kind of disguised droid?_

"I see you're attempting to figure me out, how I got past your vaunted Jedi powers. You'll just have to keep wondering." Kell taunted him.

_The ship must be deactivated, they must have sabotaged it right away. Or... of course... Kell must have anticipated this._

Pointing the blaster at him.

"Turns out the only defense against a Jedi is a Sith." Kell added, strangely to Per'l's ears.

The crew were being held there under blaster guard – Kell had about fourteen troopers with him, far more than the six companions he had. The only person missing was... Macron. Naturally. And the little Basshan. He smiled to himself. She must have hidden the little thing, smart girl, he knew he could rely on her.

The Sith! If that was the shadowmaster, then it answered two questions.

_Too bad that assault ship's gone. They're already reporting back to Luke._

He whipped out his blaster, and fired off shots at the roof. Kell didn't even see the fuel cells that had been bracketed up there for easy loading. The entire asteroid mass shuddered. It threw them off-balanced and distracted, and he was already running for cover behind a bulwark embedded in the rock.

He was risking his crew, but better to take a chance than to deliver themselves over to the last of the evil Empire. If Macron had some more subtle notion, there wasn't time to explore it.

At first he hadn't believed it, and then the certainty came over him, as his memories realigned with this new surprise, and he realised it made _sense._

He should have been aware of it, he was shocked. Kell must have taken some kind of perverse pleasure in fooling him. He had never been in danger, he had been _drawing _the danger to Per'l. He had never felt so foolish.

But how? How did Kell keep it hidden from him?

Everyone, enemy and crew alike, suddenly scrambled for cover in the ruckus, shots firing off wildly.

_Blast, without weapons, they're helpless._

He fired his own blaster, trying to keep the enemy on guard before they rushed his crew. With relief he saw they made it into the ship. They'd grab the weapons there, have a fighting chance. Their own blasters must have been confiscated, they must have been taken by surprise.

The pistol had an accelerator module. It charged a few seconds before being primed for firing. He used it because often the enemy would wait those few precious instants too long to duck, and the accelerated speed would catch them off-guard, reduce them those few extra instants to find cover.

Not easy to find a blaster with the right balance of speed and fire-power and accuracy, especially against blaster armour.

Personal shields changed the rules of combat a little, you could take a little flak for a fire-fight, and just as well, because the weapons they used on the battlefield could sizzle a man right inside his armour. Storm-trooper armour was efficient, but it wasn't invulnerable.

One of the gun turrets on the ship were activated, and the stormtroopers were surprised a it suddenly opened fire. That sent them running, as the energy bolts started blasting their ranks, hitting one after another. Suddenly the battle had turned against them.

Bloodies and battered, Kell followed after him, crawling in through the window, and standing up to accost him. His eyes were wild and red, recognising that he was alone now. Most of his troops had fallen.

"Don't worry. More will be coming. They're landing even now." He hissed, exchanging his blaster from one hand to another, noting that Per'l's was gone. He was not foolish enough to shoot directly at him, but they were standing a little too near a row of thermal canisters. One shot, and they'd both go out.

His eyes twitched. Per'l knew he had made a decision. Against a Jedi, he couldn't have made any other.

Per'l dived through the window, smashing the reinforced blaster-proof material with his lightsaber and an application of the Force – just as the entire room exploded.

The shockwave still hit him, and he tumbled through the air and hit rock hard, making an "oof" as the air whumped out of his lungs.

The storm-troopers were already in retreat. When it had cleared, he found Kell again. Pinned under a metal girder and rubble.

He approached. Kell was struggling to say something. Per'l was still struggling to understand this switch in allegiance. He shouted at Kell to answer him for what he had done.

"The Jedi are people who believe in something so strongly, they speak lies as if they are truth," he spat, blood on his lips. "I will never trust a galaxy with any of you in it."

"But you serve a Sith of the dark side!" he exclaimed. Kell had not revealed who, but Per'l didn't see a reason not to believe his own dying words.

"Then there would only be one. I serve only my own purposes."

"That's what the Sith told you." He said sadly. "Don't you see where it's brought you? You've just become a tool of their existence. Just like I foreseen might happen if they arose again."

_If only Luke had listened._

Per'l could not have anticipated his idle fancies coming true so soon, and in such a manner. But if those loyal to the Emperor still remained, it was something he could understand... But something he would have to understand later.

They ran for it. "Come on, get this ship moving!"

The lightsaber cut through the supports with heavy fission. With the gravity generator set to multiply itself and keep increasing, this whole place would implode on itself.

Kell was pinned, yelling incomprehensible curses after him.

_All Jedi have a connection to the Force._

The ship started up. They got out of there as they felt the cave rumbling around them.

But something appeared on their radar.

"Crap! Something's on us. And while we're in an asteroid field."

_The one thing Luke told us to be sure not to do._

The shield generator had been disabled, and Per'l was still trying to restore it as Macron piloted.

The no-longer operational complex must have had starfighters waiting there. It could have been a very clever trap, but one they had adroitly missed.

The canisters' thermo-gravity kept it suspended in the air while he worked.

"Twenty more seconds and those fighters will be on us! Hurry!"

"Got it!" Kicked it into place, and scrambled into place, snatching up his satchel on the go.

He remembered that odd feeling when the Death Star entered the system. He knew now that it was a gravity distortion, everything on the planet had felt it as they became slightly lighter or heavier. He thought about it, because he was having something like that sensation now.

_A disturbance in the Force._

A moment more and he had it. The shield generator came back on-line. He retook his place amid the consternation.

The station exploded behind them. Soon thereafter, they had fought off the fighters and plotted their new course. They went to warp.

_One must remain calm._

They had escaped...

"Not today, Jedi killer."

THE END


End file.
